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Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether role conflict is associated with frustration of employees’ basic needs and whether need frustration is associated with withdrawal in the form of reduced voice and increased silence. This paper also investigates if supervisor support mitigates potential detrimental outcomes of need frustration.

In this survey-based study, 201 full-time employees participated. Self-reports regarding voice and silence behaviors at work were collected as were perceptions of role conflict, need frustration and supervisor support.

The results of this study support the proposed moderated mediation relationships for both employee voice and silence behaviors. Specifically, need frustration mediates the relationship between role conflict and the two outcome variables. Perceived supervisor support moderates the path between need frustration and both voice and silence behaviors.

Employees are an organization’s first line of defense against potential accidents, inefficiencies and other organizational crises. When they perceive their needs are not met and they are not supported by their supervisors, employees are likely to seek to protect themselves from further resource loss by withholding feedback even if such feedback may enhance organizational effectiveness and prevent organizational crises.

Given that voice and silence are not opposites of each other, it is important to study both in a single study, as this study does. This study proposes and tests a heretofore untested explanation for the relationship between role conflict and voice and silence. The authors identify a buffer with potential to mitigate the negative effects of need frustration.

Water is a critical and contentious resource in California, hence any changes in reservoir management requires coordination among many basin stakeholders. The Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) pilot project at Lake Mendocino, California explored the viability of using weather forecasts to alter the operations of a United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reservoir. The pilot project demonstrated FIRO's ability to improve water supply reliability, but also revealed the key role of a collaborative Steering Committee. Because Lake Mendocino's Viability Assessment did not explore the features of the Steering Committee, this study aims to examine the relationships and interactions between Steering Committee members that supported FIRO's implementation at Lake Mendocino.

The project identified 17 key project participants who spoke at a FIRO workshop or emerged through chain-referrals. Using semi-structured interviews with these participants, the project examined the dynamics of human interactions that enabled the successful multi-institutional and multi-criteria innovation as analyzed through text-coding.

The results reveal the importance for FIRO Steering Committee members to understand the limitations and constraints of stakeholder counterparts at other organizations, the importance of building and safeguarding relationships, and the role of trust and belonging between members. The lessons learned suggest several interventions to support successful group collaboration dynamics for future FIRO projects.

This study identifies features of the Steering Committee that contributed to FIRO's success by supporting collaborative negotiations of infrastructure operations within a multi-institutional and multi-criteria context.